


He built me a house (in the arms of a tree)

by TonyStarkissist



Series: The Adventures of Uncle Tony and his gaggle of li'l Chil'ren [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cooper Barton loves his uncle but refuses to show it, Gen, Hes also a really really good dad, Irondad, Jealous!Clint, Nate is also obsessed with him, Ned is adorable and just wants the best for his friend, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony may or may not get another nephew, Tony needs a birthday present idea for his son, Tony spoils his kid nonstop, Tonys a good uncle, Uncle Tony, jealous!peter, like always, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:23:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17710949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonyStarkissist/pseuds/TonyStarkissist
Summary: “Well-no,” Tony lied, “I mean, you probably just know more about what Peter might like.”“Peter isn't my kid Tony.” Clint reasoned with him gently. “He's yours. You know him better than I do.”“I know he- wait no! He's notmykid Barton. I just-I just… I can't just buy himLEGOS.” He said the word as if it had offended him in some way. “This is the first time I'll be around for his birthday. And it's hissixteenthbirthday. This present needs to be good.” Tony insisted.OR: Tony builds his son a treehouse and bonds with his dear nephew while he's at it





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MsMorganStark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsMorganStark/gifts).



> So, this basically came to me in a fever hazed epiphany. So if it sucks too bad, blame to flu.

“Barton. Help. Now.” Tony demanded, collapsing onto the couch, sitting much closer to the archer than what was strictly necessary, but… he was desperate.

 

“Uh, okay? What's going on?” Clint questioned warily, raising his brow and pushing himself up to sit a little straighter. Tony didn't miss the way the man subtly tried to distance himself either, but he didn't say anything.

 

“Peter's 16th birthday is soon and I don't know what to get him. May says I'm not allowed to get him a car. What do I get him?” He knows he's got those crazy eyes again. How could he not? He got no sleep last night, or the night before and he'd had a truck load of coffee. He could sort of feel his head spinning now. He's pretty sure that if he took another sip out of that mug then his head would surely spin right off his neck.

 

“Okay, well, um, what about a laptop?” Clint supplied patiently, clasping his hands in his lap and looking beyond uncomfortable with the insistent confrontation.

 

“Already got him one, next,” Tony dismissed, tossing his hand upwards in some wild gesture before fixing his wide eyed gaze back on Clint.

 

“A phone?” Clint offered desperately. 

 

“We made one together already. Something else,” Tony insists, becoming even more high strung with every suggestion the archer gave.

 

“I-I don't know!” Clint cried frustratedly, throwing his arms in the air. “I cant think when I'm under pressure like this!”

 

“I'm not pressuring you!” Tony defended, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the archer with his arms crossed over his chest.

 

“Yes! Yes you are! Look at yourself; you're literally glaring at me!”

 

Tony sighs. He takes in one deep breath, closes his eyes, and slowly releases it. Hoping that in some way, the cliche tactic would work on calming him to a degree lesser than manic. He scoots back, giving Clint a little more space, and falls against the cushions behind him.

 

“Okay, okay, no pressure.” Tony breathed. _In and out. In and out._ He opened his eyes and put out his hands in a placating manner. “I just need a birthday gift idea.”

 

Clint still didn't seem to have a clue. He opened his mouth wide like a fish, but now words ever came out.

 

“What's going on man?” Clint finally resigned, “you _never_ ask me for help on _anything_. Heck, you don't even talk to me when my kids aren't in town.”

 

Tony waves him off dismissively. “Don't take it personally Barton. I don't talk to anybody. Now, I need an idea!”

 

Clint throws his hands in the air exasperatedly. “I don't know! Go ask Steve, he's great at getting gifts.”

 

It was Tony's turn to gape like a fish. Though, Tony actually knew what he wanted to say… he just didn't know how to say it without, well- without openly acknowledging his growing paternal affections for a certain spiderkid.

 

“But-but Steve doesn't have kids,” Tony finally stated matter of factly. “You-you have three. You've done tons of birthdays.”

 

Clints eyebrows rose in surprise as he studied Tony, but Tony didn't let it faze him. He kept his face straight and his expression indifferent.

 

“Because I'm a… dad?” Clint asked hesitantly, trying to decipher what exactly Tony was looking for.

 

“Well-no,” Tony lied, “I-mean, you probably just know more about what Peter might like.”

 

“Peter isn't my kid Tony.” Clint reasoned with him gently. “He's yours. You know him better than I do.”

 

“I know he- wait no! He's not _my_ kid Barton. I just-I just… I can't just buy him _LEGOS_.” He said the word as if it had offended him in some way. “This is the first time I'll be around for his birthday. And it's his _sixteenth_ birthday. This present needs to be good.” Tony insisted.

 

Clint continued to stare at him, worry creasing his features. As if Tony had suddenly fallen ill with a fatal disease of some sort. Tony didn't think he looked _that_ bad. He did shower that morning after all.

 

“What have you gotten for Cooper on his last couple of birthdays?” Tony asked after the silence had gone on long enough and his patience had grown forever thin.

 

“Last year me and Laura bought him a telescope… but I'm not sure if Pete's into that.” Tony did a waving motion for him to continue and Clint tripped over his thoughts to try and remember the previous years. “Oh, uh, we did an Xbox one year. I think we got him a dirt bike at one point… I built him a treehouse. Or, well, it was really for all th-” Tony cuts him off with a hand in the air.

 

Clint frowns at the hand that Tony had thrown in front of his face to silence him. Then, he looked over to see a wild grin splitting out across the genius’ face.

 

“That's perfect.”

 

***

 

“Barton where's your son?” Tony asked him as soon as he entered the room, throwing all courtesy of a greeting to the wind. 

 

Sam, Steve, and Bucky were with the man in question and they all turned to look at Tony. Sam burst into laughter immediately and Steve had to put a hand over his mouth to hide his amused grin.

 

Tony rolled his eyes, but he ignored the laughter, because, yes, he looked ridiculous. He wore a ball cap and plaid shirt rolled up to his elbows with a pair of lose jean's and an old worn belt to hold them up. 

 

Clint simply raised his eyebrows at the getup, but he didnt address it as he jutted his thumb towards the hall that led to the living quarters.

 

“Nate's in our room with Laura.”

 

“No-no,” Tony shook his head, “I mean the annoying one. The brat.”

 

“Cooper?!” Clint asked incredulously, as if the idea were absurd. Tony was never _not_ looking for Nate, let alone looking for Cooper.

 

“Yes, Cooper,” Tony rolled his eyes. “I'm making him help me with the treehouse, but he won’t listen.”

 

Tony glanced around the room distractedly as he fished something out of his jeans pocket, continuing his explanation. “So, I'm gonna use this as leverage. I just can't find him.” Tony waved around a brand new STARKphone before shoving it back into his pocket.

 

“You're building a treehouse?!” Sam laughed.

 

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes. Got a problem?”

 

Sam threw his hands up innocently, shaking his head. “Nope, not a problem. Go for it man.”

 

Clint rolled his eyes and thought about it before pointing in the direction of the gym. “I saw him fleeing that way a few minutes ago. He might be hiding from you, I don't know.”

 

Tony jumped into action and took long strides across the room in the direction Clint had directed. Before he was out of earshot, though, Clint called out to him. 

 

“If he's bein’ a pain, just bring him to me. I'll make him help you.”

 

Tony nods briefly in thanks before disappearing around a corner.

 

Clint turns back to the three other men he had been peacefully conversing with before Tony barged in and he took in their questioning expressions. Steve raised his brows at him, and Clint rolled his eyes.

 

“Cooper hates him,” Sam supplies.

 

Clint cocks his head to the side to look at the man. “As much as it pains me to say it… nope. He's been literally obsessed with Iron Man ever since you guys came to visit. I _swear_ I didn't hear anything but ‘Iron Man this' or ‘Iron Man that' for a straight year and a half. It pissed me off… still does.”

 

“What?!” Bucky laughs. “You're kidding! The kid glares at Tony whenever he's in the same room. Sometimes I'm worried he'll get up in the middle of the night to smother him.”

 

Clint shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know, man. Teenage angst, maybe? Something to prove? Got no idea. All I know is that Coop has more Iron Man posters on his wall than he does of me. I don't even know what that kid is thinking half the time. He'll figure it out eventually though…”

 

“Maybe,” Steve adds, “the kid seems pretty set in his ways.”

 

“I don't know Cap. But all I know is that _all_ my kids are obsessed with Tony Stark and I don't know what to do about it.”

 

“You can say that again,” Scott chimes in as he walks into the room. “At least I know now I'm not the only one.”

 

***

 

“Please Unc'e Tony! Please!” Nate cried, keeping his little arms tightly wrapped around his uncle's neck as his mother attempted to pull him away.

 

“Hey Nate,” Tony cooed softly, “it's alright kiddo.” He gently started prying his arms away, but Nate just cried some more. Cooper just watched them with amusement, being no help whatsoever.

 

“Unc'e Tony!” Nate shrieked when Laura was finally able to detach the youngster. 

 

As soon as Tony had entered the room and Nate spotted him, the boy leaped into his arms, babbling about the excitement he had experienced that day. Tony entertained him with exaggerated ‘really?’s and ‘wow's until he spotted Cooper trying to slip away. Now, he really needed to get to work, and Nate was making things extraordinarily difficult.

 

“I'd get going Tony,” Laura winced, “he's not going to stop until you do.”

 

Tony nodded and turned away, wincing as he had to listen to the heart broken sobs of the toddler. He gestured for Cooper to follow him and together, they exited the Barton suite.

 

“Have fun Cooper. Don't give Uncle Tony too much trouble!” Laura called just as they exited, and Tony looked over to see if he could catch the kid's expression.

 

“You ready kid?” He clapped, putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him towards the back door.

 

“No.” Cooper muttered, folding his arms over his chest, but following Tony's guide anyway.

 

***

 

“Hey, Coop. Toss me the little clippers, would ya?” Tony called, from the little crook in the Y-neck of the tree. He had originally climbed up to survey the surroundings and clear a few of the little branches in the way.

 

“You mean hand them to you?” Cooper asked, standing at the base of the tree, reaching up to hand up the clippers to Tony.

 

“No, toss ‘em. Let's see how good your aim is.”

 

For the first time, Tony sees something other than disgust, indifference or annoyance flash across the kid’s face. He sorta looked worried.

 

“Like, at you? Are-are you sure Un- Tony? These are pretty sharp.”

 

Tony chucklee to himself and adjusts his stance between the two branches so he’s more secure. “Na, here's how you do it. You gotta learn how to do this if you're gonna help me. Hold your hand out and just toss it straight up. Don't _throw_ it at me. Just toss it. Underhand.”

 

Cooper looks down at the tool in his hand, then looks back up at his uncle at least 5 feet up in the tree.

 

He does as Tony says and tosses the tool straight up, backing away immediately in case it came hurtling back towards him. Tony reached out to grab it, but it was too far away and it fell a little short. So, the clippers dropped to the grass with a soft thunk.

 

“That's fine,” Tony immediately encouraged, “it's gonna take a couple tries. Try again, and arc it just a bit, towards me. And put a little muscle into it. Don't worry ‘bout me, I'll catch it.”

 

They try a couple more times, and finally Cooper throws it perfectly, right in reach of Tony so the man can reach out deftly and grab the tool. “Perfect throw, kid.” Tony grinned, immediately getting to work at clipping away the tiny branches. 

 

“Alright, now let's see if you can toss up the measuring tape.” Tony smiled, watching smugly as Cooper immediately dives towards the array of tools piled near the tree eagerly.

 

Over the course of the afternoon, they end up practicing the throw several times, and by then Cooper had nearly perfected it.

 

“Hey, why do you make me throw this stuff? Isn't it more dangerous?” Cooper finally asked when he tossed Tony a hammer so he could nail in a few markers.

 

“Well, as you can see,” Tony gestured to himself, “I'm not as flexible and agile as I was 20 years ago. I don't need to be crouching down low every 5 minutes so your short self can hand me up a tool. It's bad for my back.”

 

Cooper actually laughed outright at that, but as soon as he realized he did it, he snapped his mouth shut and his usual, indifferent scowl replaced it.

 

“Its okay,” Tony encouraged loudly, reaching awkwardly across the branches to knock in a few more markers. “Laugh! Have fun. That's what we're doing out here.”

 

“To have fun?” Cooper scoffed, “You're kidding. I'm only out here because you said you'd give me a new STARKphone if I helped. This isn’t fun”

 

Tony tsked as if he were disappointed. “Ah, Coop. You're my only nephew who doesn't seem to like me.”

 

Cooper rolled his eyes. “The only other _nephew_ you have is Nate, and he only likes you because he doesn’t have any brains to know better yet.”

 

Tony hummed in amusement. “Not true. What about ALBERT? He’s pretty-”

 

Cooper groaned in exasperation. “He’s a computer programmed to like you. That doesn’t count.” He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “And besides, I'm not really your nephew, you know?” Cooper mumbled, sidestepping as Tony threw the hammer down into the grass.

 

“Sure you are.” Tony grunted, as he maneuvered himself in a way that would allow him to climb down the tree. _He was getting way too old for this crap._

 

Cooper rolled his eyes again as Tony made his way down the tree.

 

“And I'm gonna get you calling me Uncle Tony by the end of this project kiddie.” Tony smiled, throwing his arm around the teen’s shoulders.

 

“Yeah, right.” Cooper chuckled.

 

“Hey, I'm not kidding ya. Just a few more days of this fun Uncle-Nephew bonding time and well be two peas in a pod. You just need to find a way to lose that attitude and I might be able to put up with you a little more. Who knows,” he shrugged, “I might let you come down and help me in the lab every once in a while if you do.”

 

Tony glanced up at the work they were able to accomplish that day and he dropped his arm from Cooper's shoulders. It didn't look like they had done much, but Tony could already feel the effects of the work. 

 

Building a treehouse was completely different from building a robot, that was for sure. He had some reading to do tonight for sure.

 

“You jot down those measurements I told you?” Tony asked, kneeling down to collect the couple nails he had dropped. He didn't need any kids stepping on those.

 

“Yeah, right here.” Cooper pulled out a pad of paper and showed Tony the scribbles he had written.

 

“What is this? It looks like chicken scratch.” Tony accused, squinting down at the page, “geez kid, you're as bad as your dad.”

 

Cooper laughed again and grabbed for the pad, but Tony held it out of his reach. “I can still read it Mister. Shoo.” 

 

“Whatever,” Cooper smiled, looking out at the large compound in the distance.

 

“C'mon kid,” Tony chuckled, throwing an arm over Cooper’s shoulders and leading him back towards the compound, going back over the numbers scribbled on the pad as they walked in silence. 

 

***

 

It was a large task, especially for what Tony wanted to do. And they only had a limited time to finish it before Peter's birthday.

 

Thankfully, Cooper was a hard worker, and after a few early mornings of Tony dragging him out of bed for an early start, the kid seemed dedicated to the project. Heck, after the fourth day, he didn't even have to wake the kid anymore. He was just up and waiting in the kitchen, dressed and ready to work.

 

The rest of the Barton clan had left for home, but Tony and Clint were able to convince Laura to let Cooper stay, much to boys chagrin. But, at least the kid had seemed to accept his fate. Tony no longer had to listen to his minute complaints early in the morning.

 

“Hey, Tony,” Steve greeted him on his way to meet Cooper in the kitchen. Tony was already nursing his third cup of coffee that morning, because, well, he’d been up since the probably 3am in the lab anyway. “Isn’t Peter coming over today?”

 

Tony’s eyes widened in surprise and he ended up choking on his coffee. “Oh, crap,” he groaned. “I promised him we could hang out in the lab today.”

 

Tony groaned again and moved his hand to rub at his eyes, glancing in the direction of the kitchen where he could see Cooper already up and perched on his usual spot at the counter as he ate his toast.

 

“We aren’t even close to finishing the treehouse… I need to get it done.”

 

“Well,” Steve supplied awkwardly, “anything I can do to help? I-I know how to use a hammer too, you know?”

 

“No offense Cap,” Tony sighed with a small chuckle, “but I’m Tony Stark. You think I’m just gonna build some regular, old, boring treehouse for my kid? Coop and I are well past the structure part, we just need to finish up some of the more… intricate details of our plan.”

 

Steve rolled his eyes at him.

 

“But…” Tony began once Steve started walking off, “I’d really appreciate it if you and the others could occupy the kid while I get an acceptable amount of work done.”

 

“Yeah, sure, of course Tony,” Steve smiled, waving him off and heading out to the training room.

 

Tony rubbed at his eyes again and walked farther into the kitchen, garnering the young teen’s attention.

 

“Hey Tony,” Cooper greeted, still refusing to call his dear uncle by his rightful title, “you okay?”

 

“All good kiddo,” Tony smiled tiredly, reaching up to ruffle the kid’s hair just to annoy him. “Just a little tired is all. You almost done with breakfast? We’re moving onto the more exciting stuff today.”

 

“Heck yeah!” Cooper grinned, chomping down on the rest of his toast until his mouth was stuffed full like a chipmunk. 

 

“Chill out kid,” Tony laughed, “the tree will still be there in the two minutes it takes you to finish your toast.”

 

Cooper rolled his eyes at him and placed his plate in the sink so he could pull on his shoes. Tony met up with him at the backdoor, and Cooper stuck his hand out expectantly. Tony chuckled and handed over the list of tools they’d need for the day.

“Look over it and make sure you know everything first. We don’t need a repeat of last week.”

 

Cooper scanned the list quickly and rolled his eyes at Tony. 

“Yeah, yeah, I got it old man. I’ll meet you at the tree.” And with that, the young boy scampered off in the direction of the tool shed where Tony kept all his outside/spare tools. It was handy, and kept his workshop somewhat clutter-free.

 

***

 

“Alright, alright, look right here,” Tony points to a hole with wires poking out of it.

 

The two boys were laying side by side on their stomachs while they worked on one of the power sockets. Cooper laid there with his head cupped in his hands as he watched his uncle work, and Tony did his best to show Cooper the basics of what he was trying to accomplish.

 

“I need you to be careful here kid. This is electricity. Very dangerous, so don’t do anything stupid.” Tony instructed seriously, looking over at the boy beside him to make sure he was listening. “Now, I need you to hold this steady right here.”

 

Tony moved Cooper’s hand so it held the tool in the right place as he worked on the wires above it..

 

“Good job kid, just a little longer,” He praised.

 

“What is this even for?” Cooper asked curiously, when Tony covered his hand to take the tool back.

 

“It’s to test out the strength of the electricity we’re getting from the solar panels we installed yesterday. We need to know it’s working right before we get down to the nitty-gritty stuff.”

 

“Gotcha,” Cooper nods absentmindedly as he watched Tony continue working. He listened intently as his uncle explained to him the basic process of what he was doing, and he paid extra attention whenever he brought out a new tool… just in case.

 

It was his job to remember the names of the tools and go retrieve them before they started working for the day. Though, Tony always had the new tools they would be working with out and ready when he got there, so he supposed it was just to keep him from slacking off and to make sure he paid attention.

 

“Coop! Coop! Kid, watch what you're doing!” Tony laughed, when Cooper nearly nicked the wire in his distracted state.

 

“Oops,” he smiled sheepishly up at Tony and continued trying to do as Tony showed him while the man watched him work.

 

They went at it for several more hours before Tony finally checked his watch to see how late it was getting. He hoped that Peter wasn't too pissed off that he practically ditched him for the whole day.

 

“Hey, kid, why don't you run back inside and entertain Peter for a bit. I'll clean the rest of this up.”

 

“Sure,” Cooper grinned, scrambling down the ladder, excited to go see his cousin. “See you in a few.”

 

***

 

“So,” Clint grins at his son as they both get ready for bed that night, “how's your project with Uncle Tony goin'?” 

 

Cooper’s head snaps up to look at him with a suspicious tilt to his brow. “It-it's cool. It's fine.”

 

“Just fine?” Clint presses nonchalantly as he tidied up the mess Cooper had made that morning.

 

“Well, I mean, I don't know. Uncle Tony's cool and all, but like…”

 

“‘But like’, _what?_ ”

 

“I don't know!” Cooper groaned. “Did you like threaten him to do this or something? ‘Cause he's like _extra_ nice to me for some reason.”

 

“He likes kids,” Clint shrugged, as if that were the answer to everything.

 

Cooper grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“But if you must know… he's the one that wanted to do this project with _you_. Goodness knows why, all you've been is a prick to him. Still dont get that by the way…”

 

“He took my phone!” Cooper defended himself.

 

“For good reason I thin- now wait a minute!” Clint spun around on him and settled his hands on his hips. “Is that the reason why you've been such a jerk to the man who's literally on every poster in your room? C'mon kid!” Clint flicked him in the side of the head. “Use that brain of yours. If you get in on his good side now he might leave you a good chunk of chain when he dies.”

 

“Really Dad?” Cooper rolled his eyes at his father and Clint laughed. 

 

“But seriously kiddo, Tony's not the type of guy who goes out of his way to get other people to like him. So, if he's offering you the chance… don't be an angsty little teenager. Get over yourself and call him Uncle Tony for god's sake.”

 

“I _do_ call him Uncle Tony.”

 

“To his face Cooper,” Clint deadpanned, “and maybe then he'll stop nagging me about it.”

 

***

 

“Well Coop…” Tony smiled widely, gazing up at the masterful piece of art sitting in the tree. “What do you think?”

 

“I think it's wicked cool! Pete's gonna love it!” Cooper grinned.

 

“Wanna try out that zip line real quick?” Tony grinned, nodding up at the thick black wire lining from the tree house all the way to the porch behind the compound.

 

“Heck yeah!” Cooper whooped, scrambling up the steps of the treehouse with Tony not far behind. He immediately grabbed hold of handle bars, and he settled his feet in the little holding place before taking off.

 

Tony waited a few moments before grabbing his own and setting it up on the line. He's ever so glad he put in those safety precautions, because goodness knows what tomfoolery these kids could get up to without adult supervision.

 

He could hear Coopers whoops and hollers as he zoomed across the field of grass, headed straight for the porch. Tony took off too and laughed hysterically at the wind pushing against his face. It's no Iron man armor, but it's still pretty awesome.

 

He met Cooper at the end, and by then the kid was jumping up and down, surely hyped up on adrenaline. Tony laughed, and he paused a moment to catch his breath while he settled a hand on Coopers shoulder.

 

“Remember kid, the girls aren't allowed on that thing without an adult around.”

 

Cooper nodded his head vigorously.

 

Tony chuckled at his hyper attitude and fished into his pocket for the item Cooper was surely waiting for kid.

 

“Here's your prize kid. You've earned it.”

 

Cooper grinned excitedly and he snatched the phone from his uncle's hand.

 

“Oh god!” The kid gushes. For a second Tony wondered if some other kid had taken over Cooper’s body, because this was an entirely different side of the boy than he'd ever met. The boy was always trying to act so serious, and if he were honest, he kind of preferred this Cooper better. It reminded him a bit of Peter. “My friends are gonna be _so_ jealous.”

 

Tony raised a brow at him as he swiftly turned on the phone. Not even bothering to set up all the fancy account and information stuff and going immediately to the app store so he could download... Twitter? Ugh

 

“No one believed that my Uncle was Iron Man. Ha! They'll have to believe me now.” An evil grin glinted in the kids eyes and he lingered impatiently as the app staged.

 

Tony blinked distractedly for a moment, then he cocked his head to the side and grinned down at the overeager boy.

 

“So you _do_ consider me your uncle then?” He teased.

 

Cooper paused in the middle of signing into his account and glanced over at Tony with pursed brows and a creased forehead.

 

“It's just… for street cred, you know?”

 

“Oh yes,” Tony waved him off playfully, “of course, of course.”

 

Cooper nodded. Happy to feel that Tony had bought the silly excuse. He continued logging into his account and Tony took that as his cue to leave.

 

“Well, it was fun working with you kid. Have fun with that new ph-”

 

“Wait!” Cooper jumped forward slightly, reaching out a hand to stop him before he entered the building.

 

Tony halted in the doorway and raised his eyebrows curiously.

 

“Do- do you um- can you take a picture with me?” He questioned sheepishly. “For extra proof you know? And maybe for a little… trophy for what we got done today?”

 

Tony grinned at him, and the kids eyes casted downwards in embarrassment.

 

The genius immediately loped over to the kids side and threw an arm over his shoulders, eager to start taking pictures. “Let's do it kid!”

 

Cooper grinned and raised his new phone hurriedly so he could snap a few good photos. Including a goofy picture, because, well, those were always awesome.

 

“Send me those, will ya kid?” Tony grinned, reaching up to ruffle his hair affectionately. Cooper looked so young as he looked back up at Tony from under his hand with eager eyes and a bright smile. It made the man's heart clench at the cuteness of it all.

 

“Yeah of course.”

 

***

 

30 minutes later, down in his lab, he looked at his phone and noticed that he'd been tagged on Twitter. 

 

The picture that greeted him made him break out into a wide smile. It was him and Cooper smiling at the camera with the bright green grass if the back lawn in the background. He read the caption and he grinned even harder.

 

_Best day ever! Me and my Uncle @TonyStark finished up our project FINALLY! He's the best! #BestUncle #UncleTony #IToldYouSo_

 

It wasn't exactly to his face, but… he supposed it still counted. 

 

 _#UncleTony_ became an immediate trend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets a _little_ jelly

Peter didn’t even know how to feel, much less what to do with the new development. Mr. Stark had been screening his calls for, like, the past week. He even had to revert to calling and texting Happy just to see if his weekend visit was still a thing, and Happy just responded with an unamused grunt and reply of ‘Boss has been busy lately. I don’t know’.

Peter tried his best not to fume too much as he jabbed his finger onto the end call button. Happy was never any help to him, he didn't even know why he bothered to call the man for information half the time. His legs swung back and forth from the fire escape, where he was comfortably perched at, while he ate his evening snack, waiting for Mr. Stark to call him back.

Sure, he’d talked to Mr. Stark maybe two or three times, but he was never able to get straight answers. He was always so distracted, and Peter could never get more than a distracted ‘yeah’ or ‘mhm’ from the man before he was eventually being blown off with a ‘gotta go Pete, talk to ya later’ and greeted by a dialing tone. It was beginning to piss him off. All he wanted to know is if he was going to the Compound tomorrow for his visit.

So, he called Ms. Potts, because she loved him, and she could maybe tell him what in the world was going on that had his mentor so preoccupied that he couldn’t return a simple text message.

He tapped his fingers patiently on the metal railing of the fire escape as he waited for Pepper to answer.

“Peter? What’s wrong? Are you alright?” Pepper immediately piped up, without so much as a greeting. He supposed he deserved that though, because he never really called her to discuss trivial things such as this. Actually… he didn’t think he’d ever called her before.

“Yeah-yeah I’m fine. I just… Mr. Stark’s not really answering my calls or texts and I just wanna know if I’m going to the Compound tomorrow. I need to know soon so that I can get my homework done, because I don’t want to be stuck doing it there. Happy doesn’t know either, so I was just wondering if you could ask Mr. Stark for me since he’s not allowed to ignore you.”

Pepper laughed at that, or maybe that was a giggle, he wasn’t really sure.

“Of course, Peter. He probably just left his phone inside again. He’s been a bit busy with this new project he’s been obsessing over lately. I’ll make sure he gives you a call tonight when he comes in though. Sound good?”

Peter grinned. He knew that Pepper would be able to help. He didn’t know why he didn’t just call her first. “Yeah, thanks! Oh… and um, he’s not like mad at me or anything right? That’s not why he’s ignoring me?”

“No Peter,” Pepper chuckled, “I promise you it’s nothing like that. You know how he is. When he gets caught in something, he rarely comes up for air until it’s finished. He’ll be back to normal in no time.”

Peter sure did hope so.

***

“Hey, squirt,” Tony greeted as soon as Peter accepted the call later that night, “sorry I didn’t pick up any of your calls. I was… unable to get to the phone. What’s up?” Peter could hear his loud yawn over the receiver, and he frowned confusedly. It was only 7… Mr. Stark was never tired, unless it was first thing in the morning, or like 2 in the morning.

“Uh-uh yeah, I was just making sure we were still on for tomorrow. I wasn’t too sure, because we haven’t really talked all week.”

“Oh, yeah, of course you’re coming! I wouldn’t cancel on you Cubster, I’ve just been so busy with this new project I’m working on. I’m trying to get it done before the deadline, so I’m working all day, sleep for 6 hours then head back to work until 7am when Pepper makes me eat breakfast. I’m not used to passing out at 9 at night every evening. It’s putting a damper on my social life kid,” Tony chuckled amusedly before suppressing a loud yawn as if to prove his point.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Peter nods, “you work all day, sleep, and then work. No wonder I can never get ahold of you. How do normal people ever do it?” Peter replied sarcastically.

“Stop snarking me kid. I’m not used to balancing work, sleep, AND a social life. One of the three have to be sacrificed somewhere along the way.”

Peter giggled like a little school kid, and he could hear Tony’s tired chuckle as well… he really did sound tired.

***

Happy picked him up Saturday morning around 10am, and he excitedly stumbled out of the vehicle around 11. It would be the first day in weeks that he and Tony got to do something together. Sure, the past few weeks they’ve been doing stuff, but Mr. Stark’s been super, super busy. He wasn’t sure if it was the same project he was working on now, or what, but either way, Tony had been rather distracted during their weekly lab sessions and it was like each week he came the man became more and more jittery.

Peter bounded into the main room, glancing around at the various heroes lounging in the room, looking for the familiar face of his mentor… but he didn't see him.

His smile fell into a confused frown and he twisted his body around to look behind him just to be sure he didn't miss him on his way in. He didn't. But maybe Tony was already waiting for him down in the lab. He did that sometimes when he forgot he was coming, which he probably did considering he sounded half asleep during their conversation last night.

“Hey, um, where's Mr. Stark?” Peter pipes up, garnering the other heroes’ attention. “Is he in the lab already?”

“Oh,” Clint twisted around from his seat on the couch to grin at Peter, “he’s outside with Coop working on their project.”

Peter's brows furrowed even further in confusion. Project with Cooper? Is that the project Tony had been obsessing over for the past three weeks or so? The project that had him so distracted that he couldn’t even function enough during the day to return a text or phone call.

And if Cooper was working on it with him, then that had to mean it wasn’t top secret. Which also meant that _he_ could help with the project too! This would be so fun. He and Mr. Stark hadn’t done a legit project together in months.

“Cool! I can help,” Peter grinned taking off towards the back of the compound, but a quick hand snatched out and grabbed him by the collar to reel him back.

He was met with the anxious face of Captain America, and Peter did not have a good feeling about the way Steve, and the others, were looking at him like they he was a poor, little, kicked puppy.

“What?” Peter asks childishly, his eyes widening and his grin falling into a worried frown. “W-what's wrong?”

He glanced around quickly at the others around the room. Everyone was biting down on their lips and avoiding looking at him while they busied themselves with what they had been doing before he came in. He was able to lock eyes with Sam and narrowed them until the man broke with amusingly easy difficulty.

“It-it's a project Stark wants to do with just Cooper,” He explained hurriedly, “He asked us to hang out with you until they were done for today.”

Peter couldn't believe it. Tony blew him off _again!_ And he-he replaced him with some angsty teenager who didn't even respect him enough to go a day without rolling his eyes at the man. Really?! Was Tony actually replacing him?

The group must have caught onto his distraught face and Steve quickly let go of his collar, ushering him to take a seat on the sofa. 

He didn't really know what to do, or what to think. Pepper never mentioned that Tony had replaced him with someone else… what even was this project they were working on? Was it a school project? Science fair project? He could help. Why couldn't he help? 

Then he felt an arm being thrown around his shoulders. Almost the exact same way that Mr. Stark did, but he could easily tell it was someone entirely different. He glanced over to see Clint grinning down cheerfully at him. 

“Y'know, Stark stole my kid, so I think I should steal his. What d'ya think kid? Wanna spend your day bonding with Uncle Clint?”

Peter didn't know what to say. What was he supposed to say? He didn't understand it. Why did Tony give all his attention to Cooper, a kid who already had a dad to spend time with and to fuss over him? Peter didn't have that… and he wasn't trying to be selfish and ungrateful, but… Tony was supposed to be _his_ fake dad, not Cooper’s.

“Uh-uh, sure,” Peter stuttered, trying his best at a grin.

***

Peter spent almost the entire day with the entirety of the Avengers, minus the _one_ he actually wanted to spend time with. 

The activities they did with him were very entertaining, and he would have thoroughly enjoyed them if he wasn't already so depressed by the idea of his father figure and long-term idol replacing him with another snarky teenager. Honestly, he was probably just overthinking it and stressing over nothing, but that didn't help to calm his nerves.

May had told him he could spend the night, as long as he had all his homework done, which he did. So, he supposed that he and Tony could make up for the day with a late night down in the workshop if he wasn’t too tired. He just had to stick it out a little while longer.

They were in the middle of a heated game of Blackjack, but Peter wasn't really feeling it. Then, Cooper came barreling into the room. He was coated in sawdust, dirt and sweat. Peter could only imagine what in the world he and Tony were secretly working on.

“Peter!” The boy grinned as he rushed up to the table. “Hey, you wanna go play the PlayStation? Uncle Tony bought me this awesome new game, you’re gonna love it.

_Uncle Tony?_ Since when did Cooper call him Uncle Tony? And-and a _new game?_ Tony bought him a new game?

He couldn't get upset! Tony was allowed to buy whoever he wanted whatever he wanted. He shouldn't be getting jealous just because Cooper seemed to be spending more time with _his_ father figure than he was. Cooper was homeschooled, and Peter wasn’t. So, Cooper was around more often, which made sense for him to be able to spend more time at the Compound, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

“Uh-uh yeah, sure. But, um, where's Mr. Stark?”

Cooper laughed and gestured for Peter to follow him. “He's still outside finishing up some stuff on our project. He told me to come in and hang out with you, so you don't have to be traumatized by these losers forever.”

Peter gave in and allowed Cooper to drag him into the living room to setup the gaming console. The others paid no mind to him and just went back to their game of cards. He hoped that Cooper didn’t pick up on his salty attitude, and it wasn’t like Peter was mad at _him_. He was just… he didn’t know.

It was another hour, maybe two, before Peter saw Tony for the first time that day. His appearance… was new. He was wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and he was wearing a pair of baggy jeans, with a baseball cap on his head. His clothes were covered in sawdust and dirt, just like Cooper’s. There were even several flakes stuck in his beard and forehead as well.

Plus, he looked absolutely exhausted. Peter had never seen him look so tired before. He probably wouldn't get the late-night lab time he was hoping for, but he supposed he could settle for just watching a movie… as long as Tony didn't choose sitting next to Cooper over him. If he did, Peter didn't think he could handle it. 

“Hey kiddo,” Tony grinned tiredly, passing by the rest of the Avengers finishing up their dinner at the table to approach Peter and Cooper in the Living Room with their empty plates on the coffee table. He didn’t sit down on the couch, instead he reached out to ruffle Peter’s hair playfully and smiled down at him. 

Peter looked up at him with a bright grin, because _finally._

“I’m gonna go get a quick shower, then I’ll come back out and maybe we can watch a movie. Does May want you home tonight?”

Peter shook his head, and Tony gave his hair one last ruffle before spinning around to head in the direction of his suite.

***

They weren’t even 10 minutes into the movie, and Tony was already dead asleep. His head was knocked back into the cushions of the couch, snoring right into Peter’s ear from where he had his back pressed up against the older man’s arm as he usually did.

When he had heard the first snore, he whipped his head around to stare at him in disbelief. Tony had never fallen asleep in front of him before. Typically, he was the first to pass out when they were pulling an all-nighter in the lab.

His head jerked back around when he heard snickering from the other end of the couch. It was Rhodey.

“Sorry kiddie. He’s beat.”

That much was obvious.

Peter sighed to himself and turned back to the movie, trying his best to ignore Tony’s soft snores as he slept, pretending that he was fully awake and enjoying the movie as much as Peter was.

Goodness… the visit had been another bust. He really hoped that Tony and Cooper would finish their project soon so they could get back to their usual bonding rituals. 

***

It was his birthday, and Tony hadn’t even _tried_ to contact him. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

He hadn’t even got a text or phone call from him in a whole week. Heck, Happy had even texted him with a measly ‘Happy Birthday’ and lone thumbs up emoji early in the morning. 

Peter had literally waited for a solid ten minutes in bed for the inevitable call or text from Tony. Just one small reassurance that the man hadn’t completely forgotten about him after replacing him with a younger, less clingy version of himself. Geez, he couldn’t even make it an entire year without losing another father figure.

He literally sulked about it for the rest of the day. He went to school, and all his classes reluctantly sang happy birthday to him by the insistence of their teachers, minus MJ who simply opted for shoving her present right in Peter’s face as soon as she saw him and left it at that. He shouldn’t have been upset, because he had been getting a steady stream of Happy Birthday messages all throughout the day, ranging from Pepper to Vision. Any other kid would have been floating on cloud 9 if literally all the Avengers knew when their birthday was, but Peter just… he couldn’t. The only person that he wanted to remember his birthday seemed to have completely forgotten.

He was probably too busy hanging out with his new mentee. Heck, Cooper had even posted a picture of the two of them on Twitter yesterday and literally EVERYONE was talking about it. Flash teased him mercilessly for the ‘fake internship’ because of it, which didn’t help his frustration in the least. The _#UncleTony_ was blowing up his feed, and every time he glanced at it, it made the pit in his stomach grow even more.

“Dude! Why are you so sad?! It’s your birthday! I bet you Tony Stark is gonna get you the coolest freaking birthday present in the entire world,” Ned vibrated excitedly next to Peter while they ate their nasty lunches. “Oh god,” He gasped, “what if he bought you a car?! Peter that would be so cool. We could go to all the new movie premieres without having to ask my mom or Happy for a ride. How cool would that be?! Dude, I think he totally got you a car, he had to have. He’s, like, basically your dad now, and your 16. Plus, he’s like legit the richest person in the world, so obviously that’s what he’s gonna get you, because it won’t even make a dent in his wallet. And even if he decided to get you a rinky dink car, it’ll still be wicked awesome, because he’s obviously gonna get you something that works, ‘cause he’s really worried about you being safe. So, he’s not gonna buy you one of those crap cars that basically falls apart every time you-”

“Ned, please!” Peter groaned, shoving his face into his hands after pushing his tray of food across the table with an angry growl.

“Dude, what’s-” Ned starts, narrowing his eyes confusedly before Peter snaps at him again.

“He forgot, okay?! He doesn’t care anymore! Tony doesn’t care. He’s not going to buy me a car. He’s not going to buy me anything… because he forgot. He doesn’t care. He’s been too busy with his new protege to even spare a glance at me.” Peter finished with a pathetic whine as he crossed his arms on the table and buried his head there, trying desperately not to think about it.

“Peter…” Ned started, his voice laced with worry as he laid a comforting hand on his best friend’s back, “I’m sure he didn’t forget. Maybe he’s just trying to surprise you.”

“He’s not,” Peter whined, “He’s been ignoring me for weeks.”

Ned didn’t dare say anything after that, because what was he supposed to say, but he promised to deliver his present to his apartment that night. 

Peter didn’t really seem to care.

***

“Steve, did you get the cake?” Tony asked frantically, spinning around to face the soldier with a squealing child on his hip and hugging his neck tightly in greeting. The Barton Clan had just arrived, and Nate had already said his hello.

Steve repressed a chuckle and nodded his head, and then Tony was spinning back around to shout out instructions to the two nimrods (Shuri and Sam) who were trying to hang streamers from the ceiling.

“Uncle Tony,” Lila whispered into his ear, and tapping his cheek to try and get his attention. Tony turned to the girl in his arms distractedly. “When is Peter going to get here? I got him the coolest present ever!”

“He’ll be here soon Giggles. Why don’t you go find your brother and tell him to go set up Peter’s big surprise? You can go with him.” Tony set her down on her feet and she took off down the hall in search of her older brother. Tony immediately jumped back into frantically shouting out orders.

“Rhodey! Did you get all his presents wrapped yet?”

Rhodey rolled his eyes in annoyance, because it was probably the fourth time in the past 20 minutes that Tony had asked him that question.

“Tony, chill. Pepper’s going to get here soon, and she’ll help me out. We’ll have it done before he gets here, I promise.”

“Alright-alright. May and Happy are checking him and Ted out early, so you gotta hurry. Vision! How’s the feast coming?”

Nobody had ever seen him so high strung in their entire lives.

***

“Mr. Smith, can you please send Peter Parker and Ned Leeds to attendance for checkout.” The loud speaker came on in the middle of their Calc lesson, and both boys perked up at the mention of their names.

“Of course,” Mr. Smith answered, then looked over at the two boys already excitedly packing away their things. “Have a good weekend you two.”

For the first time that morning Peter felt a little uplifted. It didn’t matter how early he was being checked out, just the idea of getting out of school early made the entire day feel a hundred times better. And Ned seemed to eagerly agree with him.

“Oh my gosh dude! Where do you think Aunt May’s gonna take us? It’s gotta be somewhere awesome if she’s taking us out of school early.”

Peter couldn’t help but feed off Ned’s excitement, and for a moment he was able to forget all about Tony.

They reach the office in record time with wide grins on their face that instantly fell open in shock at what was taking place in front of them. Both May and Happy were standing at the counter, and Happy had his hand ON HER BACK! Like, not the friendly hand… more like the… the flirty hand. Peter didn’t know what to do! Then Happy whispered something to her with an amused grin on his face, and May instantly started giggling. GIGGLING! 

“Uhhhh,” Ned grunted, staring at the two adults. 

May’s head snapped over her shoulder and she turned slightly, which sort of guided Happy’s hand to momentarily slip to her waist before eventually falling away after he noticed the two boys that had entered the room.

“Peter,” May smiled, stepping away from Happy, wearing a bright grin as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Peter couldn’t say anything, he couldn’t move his mouth. Cuz WHAT?!

“Oh my gosh dude,” Ned laughed, “your ‘Uncle Happy’ is gonna be your legit Uncle!”

Happy’s face slightly reddened at that, as did Peter’s, but May seemed to have no shame and she laughs out loud. 

“Ahem, let’s get going then.” Happy quickly interrupted, herding the two boys out of the office, with May following behind him. 

They make it outside before Peter is eventually able to find his tongue. “Uh, Happy, what’re you doing here?”

“Taking you to the Compound. Everyone wanted to see you, and May thought you might like getting out of school early. Now get in the car.” He practically shoved both Peter and Ned into the backseat before slamming the door behind them so he had time to step forward and quickly open the passenger door for May.

“Dude,” Ned whispered, staring over at him with a gleam in his eyes. “Am I going to meet the Avengers?”

“I guess so,” Peter smiled.

Maybe Tony didn’t forget… or maybe he did and everyone else are the ones that invited him over. He just hoped he might be able to see him conscious for more than 20 minutes before he had to go. That’d be a present in itself at this point.

***

Peter steps out of the car with hope bubbling in his chest. He dealt with a straight hour commentary from his best friend about the various Avengers and the questions he was going to ask each of them, and Peter just hoped that Ned wouldn’t embarrass him too bad. 

He missed Happy and May’s knowing grins they shared as both the boys bounded towards the entrance of the building. Ned gasped when they stepped inside, and Peter’s jaw dropped. The entire inside of the building looked like Party City had partied a little too hard and barfed all over every available surface. There were streamers, balloons, banners, little colorful napkins, and party hats on the tables. It was… awesome.

He grinned so big, but he didn’t see anybody yet.

Both Happy and May had a tough time keeping up with the two boys as Peter led Ned towards the Main Room at a quickened pace, snapping his neck around to grin at the obnoxious streamers and posters littered everywhere.

He came to a halting stop when he reached the Living Room to meet all the Avengers and their families with wide grins and silly party hats on their heads. Screaming ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’.

Peter would never admit that an excited giggle passed his lips, but it didn’t matter because nobody could hear them over the excited squeals and chatter of everyone else. His eyes flitted around the room in search of a certain somebody. He saw T’Challa, Shuri, Pepper, Rhodey, Scott, Louise, Bruce, Thor, even Okoye… but no Tony.

His heart stopped momentarily, and his grin faltered, but then he felt a heavy arm sling over his shoulder and he immediately knew who it was.

He grinned goofily as Tony pulled him into a tight side hug and pressed an obnoxious kiss to the side of his head with a loud ‘Mwah’. “Happy B-day my boy.”

“Oh my god!” Ned jittered, staring excitedly at the heroes around the room. He immediately ran off to greet them, completely forgetting about Peter. He couldn’t really blame him.

Peter laughed joyfully and pressed into his mentors side, returning the hug by swinging an arm around the older man’s waist.

“How do you like it?” Tony pestered, tugging on his ear with a big, happy-go-lucky grin on his face, “we worked tirelessly all day to set it all up.”

“I love it!” Peter grinned back. He couldn’t suppress it anymore. He let go of Tony and turned to give him a proper hug. He wrapped both arms around his waist and pressed his face into Tony’s shoulder, squeezing him to make sure he knew just how much he appreciated it. “Thank you.”

“Glad to hear it,” Tony said, returning the hug.

***

The party was in full swing and Peter looked to really be enjoying himself, especially after the delicious cake.

Then, before Ned could really stop it from happening, Cassie had grabbed ahold of his hand after a stream of intense questions about whether he was their new cousin and dragged him over to her father.

“Daddy,” she asked, tugging on his pants to pull his attention away from Sam, Hope and Natasha, whom he was conversing with. Scott grinned as he looked down at her, then he looked up to see Ned, who was wearing an embarrassed and sheepish grin on his face. “Is Ned our new cousin.” She pointed at Ned with the hand that wasn’t currently wrapped around the older boy’s, and Scott’s eyebrows furrowed confusedly.

“Uh-uh I don’t know Peanut. Why don’t you go ask Uncle Tony? He can probably tell ya.”

Ned’s eyes widened in panic at Scott’s words and Cassie immediately drug him in the direction of her dear Uncle Tony. Ned didn’t know what to do, he had never talked to Tony Stark before… _oh god._

Peter was standing with Tony and they were talking quietly as Cassie dragged them both forward to stand in front of the pair. Ned shared a panicked look with Peter as Cassie at once reached up to grab a fistful of Tony’s shirt, tugging gently.

“Uncle Tony! Uncle Tony!”

Tony raised his eyebrow and took a quick sip of his fruit punch.

“What’s up Pipsqueak?”

“Is Ned our new cousin?”

Peter’s eyes widened, and so did Ned’s as he stared at Tony’s face intensely to judge his reaction.

The man simply raised his eyebrows in response and glanced over at a panicked looking Ned.

“I’m sorry si-” before Ned could finish, Tony waved his hand and answered with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“Sure, why not? Welcome to the family Ted.”

Peter stared up at him and then stared at Ned, who was beaming unabashedly.

Cassie did the same, and a wide grin grew across her face and she tugged on Ned’s wrist excitedly.

“Yay! Now you have to call him Uncle Tony,” she instructed seriously, “those are the rules. Except for Petey, he’s not allowed to call Uncle Tony Uncle Tony, ‘cause he’s his dad and stuff.”

She was dead serious, anyone could see that much, and Ned wasn’t sure what to do. Peter didn’t seem to be any help either, which just left Ned stuttering like a complete doofus in front of one of the richest, smartest, and coolest men in history.

“Uh-uh- i-” Tony interrupted him again with a role of his eyes. He took a quick sip of his drink and ran his hand down his face.

“What’s one more?” He muttered unamusedly to himself.

Peter and Cassie had to stifle their giggles beneath their hands at Tony’s obvious surrender to the newly appointed nephew. 

“I’m collecting them like Pokémon now, Geez.”

Ned nervously chuckled at that, but… wow. ‘Uncle Tony’. That’s pretty freakin’ awesome.

 

***

“Mine next! Mine next!” Lila hooted excitedly, shoving a poorly wrapped gift into Peter’s lap.

Peter smiled at her and tore open the present, letting the wrapping paper fall to the floor. Tony picked it up with a role of his eyes and shoved the discarded paper into the garbage bag containing the rest of the trash Peter had carelessly thrown on the floor. 

“Aww, thank you Lila,” Peter cooed, holding up the picture frame to show a childish drawing of Spiderman swinging on a building with a little girl holding onto his back in an attempt to mimic their usual piggy-back pose.

Peter went through the rest of the presents, which were all amazing. He thanked everyone immensely for what they bought him, but he didn’t miss the fact that he still hadn’t opened a present from Tony. Not that he was really expecting a gift or anything, because the party in itself could technically be counted as Tony’s present.

The last present he opened was another one from Pepper, which was a goofy Spiderman tie that matched Tony’s Ironman one. He tried not to feel too disappointed when he didn’t see any more presents on the table.

He seemed to miss the excited jittering that everyone was succumbing to, especially the children.

“Alright,” Tony grins knowingly, “looks like that’s the last of ‘em.”

Though, ALBERT, or course, was the one to ruin the surprise.

“But Uncle Tony, what about your present for Peter?” Shuri snickered and Tony ignored her as he glared up at the ceiling. Peter on the other hand, snapped his head to settle his wide-eyed gaze on his long-time idol. Tony actually got him a present?

“Yeah Unc’e Tony, we gotta show Petey the su’p’ise,” Nate sayid, hobbling to his feet and grasping a fistful of Tony’s jeans so he could bounce up and down excitedly.

“You-you got me a present?” Peter asked wistfully. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears.

Tony looked at him incredulously. “Of course I did!” He scoffed, “what type of father-figure would I be if I didn’t even get my own kid a present for his 16th birthday.”

“What do you think he’s been working on for the past month kid?” Rhodey laughed. 

The project? Was that supposed to be his surprise birthday present? Is that what Tony had been working tirelessly on day and night to finish? For him?

“Yeah!” Cooper chimed in, latching onto his hand, and tugging him in the direction of the backdoor. “It’s so cool! You’re gonna love it! We did it all ourselves.”

“Alright-alright,” Tony shooed him away and threw an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Don’t ruin the surprise before he’s even seen it.”

Then, before Peter can respond, or even think of how to respond, everyone’s hiking through the backyard of the Compound, towards the line of trees in the distance. Peter wasn’t really too sure of what it could be, because… well, really, what could it be?

Then, Tony stops, and his arm falls away from Peter’s shoulders. Peter was confused, he couldn’t see anything. Had Tony gotten him an invisible car like Wonder Woman? That would be awesome, but obviously impossible.

Maybe it was just too dark to see it. The moon was already shining, and the stars were starting to peek out, so… he still had no clue as to what in the world this surprise could possibly be.

“Alright Coop, switch on the lights,” Tony says, flicking his wrist in Cooper’s direction while using his other hand to steer Peter’s head so he was looking in the right direction as lights flickered on about 20 yards away.

He gasped when he saw it. It was amazing.

It was the best present ever.

There, in the midst of all the trees, stood the coolest looking treehouse Peter had ever seen. Fairy lights lined the outside of the little cabin in the tree, along with the stringy bridge leading to a cute little outpost high up on another tree. The wood was illuminated in a beautiful yellowish-bluish glow through the leaves in the tree. There were more lights lining the railings of the skinny, spiraling staircase leading up to main hut. It was amazing.

“What d’ya think,” Tony asked proudly, throwing his arms around him again and leading him towards the little outpost to get a better look. “You got solar panels, energy storage, a really nice TV, along with a fully stocked snack fridge. Pepper did most of the interior design and material choices and whatnot. And I made Steve and Bucky carry all the heavy stuff, but other than that me and Coop built this all by ourselves just for you… and the other rascals of course.”

Peter couldn’t help but tear up as he looked up at the treehouse. It looked like a professional had come in and done it… but he supposed that Tony always did everything beyond expectations.

“It turned out great Tony,” May grinned, stepping up beside them and settling her hand on Peter’s head.

Peter bit down on his lip and nodded his head furiously.

“Y-yeah, it’s amazing.” He turned up to look at Tony, and the man was already staring back down at him with a soft smile. 

Then, Peter was hugging him again. His body shook with happy sobs as he cried into Tony’s shirt, and the man just rubbed his hand along the teen’s back.

“We even got a zipline,” he chuckled, “and a little Spidey obstacle course through the woods.”

Peter laughed through his tears and pressed closer to him, and Tony dropped his head to rest his cheek on top of Peter’s soft hair.

“Thank you so, so much,” Peter was able to get out after a few more moments. 

The crowd had somewhat dispersed to give them some privacy, and they watched with happy grins as the kids excitedly climbed up into the treehouse, along with a few of the adults.

“Anything for my boy,” Tony whispered softly, pressing a quick kiss to the top of his head.

Peter pursed his lips happily and squeezed his eyes shut as he tightened his grip.

“I love you so much, Dad.”

“I love you too, Cubster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I might have cried after finishing this fic. I just-ugh. I hope you guys found it as precious as I did, because my heart swells every time I reread that last bit.

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah, hope you guys enjoyed!! And P.S this fic is totally based off that song 'Not All Heros Wear Capes'. It is the most perfect IronDad song... EVER! It's amazing. 
> 
> And the song was introduced to me through a video montage or compilation (whatever those things are called) by MsHinnyStark. Well done! This human being has broke my heart into a million and one pieces, so, like. Yeah, this whole upcoming series is based off that song.
> 
> And the first chapter is basically dedicated to the Uncle Tony series, and the second chapter will be all IronDad stuff.


End file.
